


you and i in unision

by liberacexcx



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/F, mmh i don't know what type of relationship they have yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2020-10-14 14:03:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20602004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liberacexcx/pseuds/liberacexcx
Summary: Ending the world seemed like an easy task, yet the Archive stumbles into more setbacks than planned. With their best agent in the forefront, they hope to complete their plan before their competitor, Xamin.AU where Penelope and Josie work together to end/save the world.





	1. how long for me to meet you

Penelope takes a cab to go the 4th emp street. Awaiting there, with the lights turned on a minute before her arrival, is the Soth bar. Upon coming in, the interior stands out showing the owner's love for art déco. It is empty. She takes a seat at a table, immediately the waiter comes out of the kitchen, one menu in his hand and the other holding a water bottle. He doesn't serve the water, as he gives her the menu he takes a sip.

'What is it gonna be tonight?' MG asks.

'Come back when I'm ready.'

He goes back to the kitchen, half an hour later he comes back to the table.

'What took you so long, I don't have all night.' she says without glancing up from the menu.

'What is it gonna be tonight?' he asks again.

'I'll take number 6.'

'Here or take-away?'

'Ask the boss.'

'He said tonight it's only take-away.'

'Then why would you even waste time asking me?-just get it ready.' she scoffs.

Five minutes pass. 'Miss, your order' on the verge of laughing, MG hands her a plastic bag, two boxes inside.

'Should we wait for you tomorrow too?'

'You already know what this night means, darling.'

She leaves the bar out of the front door. She gets into the first cab she hails.

'Where to, miss?' asks the driver.

'Leave the meter running for twenty minutes, you can take your favourite route.'

He starts driving, from the rear view she sees her opening the boxes. At the traffic light he glances at her again, he wonders: 'has she been staring at it for nine minutes straight? Must be delicious, sometimes I'm scared to start eating too.' He mostly drives around, never getting too far out of the centre. Once the twenty minutes are up he asks 'where to now?', he sees her checking her watch. 'Take me to 5th avenue'

'Ah, you're going to that party? Are you a celebrity?'

'Sort of.' she replies as she looks out of the window.

Paying the taxi driver, Penelope gets out of the cab, plastic bag in hand, and she walks to the entrance. A woman comes by her side holding an open umbrella.

'Close it, it's not raining and you look out of place.'

Not even ten seconds pass and it starts raining

'Some say I'm always ready', the woman named Josie continues 'why are you three minutes late?' she reprimands.

'I didn't know there was a schedule tonight'

'I saw you checking your watch, don't lie to me.'

Josie leans her head on her shoulder and whispers 'did you bring it?'

'Of course, I have it on me right now.'

'Can I see it?'

'If you have to ask, it means you don't have permission.'

'But please, for me, you could allow it.'

'I'm not the one who says to always follow every rule in the book and yet, I seem to be the only one to apply them correctly.'

'I'm just curious.'

'Oh I know, you have shown me before'

'I can show you again tonight, if you let me take a peek.'

'You talk like you're the only woman I desire in this city.'

'Am I not?' she smiles sure of herself.

'I don't wanna be another minute late, let's get inside.'

Inside, the party has started an hour ago to celebrate mr. Hannington's birthday, invite only entrance, 3000 people who wouldn't define themselves lucky, received it. As of now, 1978 have arrived. At the door each guest is counted for, the invite destroyed and a device is placed under the skin of the neck, a small appliance automatically destroyed in 16 hours. The scar you get after its termination is considered a sweet souvenir; adds thousands to your social capital, and allows entrance to future events held by mr. Hannington, till the end of the current year. Sadly new year's eve is not included as it blends in the next year, it would be a disgrace to make the guests leave as the clock strikes midnight.

At the entrance Penelope leaves the bag in the cloakroom.

Josie is handing out her jacket and without glancing at Penelope, trying to keep her voice even, she asks 'now that we know the world is ending, would you spend your last night with me?'

'I will find you later.' Penelope promises and she walks into the main room. She picks up a glass of wine as she passes the waiter, looking around slowly and acknowledging the other guests. She stops to chitchat with random people in the room, no one is of interest, and there's no worry of standing out from the crowd. No one is expecting that this party is the origin of return 0. She notices Josie upstairs entertaining conversation with a man, she is leaning into the banister and looking out at the crowd. The next time she looks up, Josie is watching her and she smiles tenderly once they lock eyes. Penelope sends her a wink back and continues looking around.

Waiting for time to pass, watching people interact before her, people who she means nothing to, and neither do they to her, do they at least mean anything to each other? 'how do they have fun just talking?' She taps her fingers on her glass, unsure of what to do. She finds a seat at the open bar and slowly drinks a glass after another, switching to water after the 4th. The wait is excruciating. Someone sits next to her stool 'lonely night?'

'Hopefully not how it ends.'

'That's what I was thinking too.' the person says almost cheerful.

'Sorry, I already have somebody on my mind.'

'But do they have you on theirs?'

'Just go.'

Minutes later she too gets up from the stool and leaves. She gets the plastic bag from the cloakroom and goes outside, in the alley she opens the two boxes. A device separated in two parts, its developing so enigmatic that no person could ever understand how it really functions, different parts assembled by different teams. She positions the left piece in the vent and she takes the complementary part with her.

Back in the house, she places the other part in one of the empty rooms at the first floor, parallel to the vent. She contacts MG from the Soth bar, letting him know she has done what was requested of her. He can finish it.

Outside the door Josie is waiting, 'Is it done?'

'Yeah'

Before she can walk away Josie grabs her wrist and pulls her closer to kiss her longingly. 'How many hours do we have?' she asks between kisses. 

'What does it matter?' Penelope answers as she keeps their mouths close.


	2. lose your smile

The next morning she wakes up in her bedroom. Josie is already awake by her side, one finger softly tracing Penelope's jaw.  
“Are you the devil?” Penelope mumbles dumbfounded. 

“Want me to punish you?” Josie laughs, but she blushes a second later at her own words. She leans in just a little bit closer, sliding her finger down to her collarbone.   
Penelope looks at her, entranced by it all.

“Uuuhm … we must have done something wrong yesterday” she says in a hushed voice, as it should be kept a secret between them. “The company is gonna be pissed.”

“More time with me. Kind of balances is out, aren't you happy?” her voice betrays the confidence she wants to convey, making it sound more like an hopeful wish. 

Penelope draws back, unsure of what to say. 

“I should get going”.

“What about me?”

“Well, do you have clearance for this level of knowledge?” 

“No?” 

“As I thought.” Fully dressed, she gets to the door. “Take your time, I will see you soon”, she only gives a barely there smile before leaving.

She runs down the stairs of her apartment complex, 'how is it possible?? we followed all the instructions. This day should have never arrived' she thinks.

She gets out of a cab and walks into the Soth bar, she doesn't even make it to the table that MG comes out of the kitchen screaming “Oh my god, I cannot believe you!! How could you miss it by 10 seconds!! How many times have we told you: be on time! And you always reply: yes, I can read the clock. We have even given you one of ours, perfectly set, and yet! You missed it!! unbelievable. I cannot fathom why he assigned YOU this task, I knew this would happen, but no, he didn't wanna listen!”.

“Shut up already, it's not even part of your level to reprimand a cockroach, let alone me. Just tell me what's next.” Penelope says unbothered by MG's tone.

“Well, today there is no menu! You are invited straight to the feast. 13 pm Almingty street, second floor.”

“Is this all from you?”

“It is”.

“May I ask... Did you get invited to the feast?” she says with a mocking smile.

MG folds his arms, petulantly “no, I didn't”.

Walking out of the bar, a cab is already waiting for her.  
“Almingty street, correct?” says the driver. 

“It is, but I don't have to be there until late. Take me to lemmi 7th now”.

“They told me only to let you get off there” he locks the car and starts driving. 

“Great” she mutters.

The driver lets her get off at the destination after a 40 mins drive, “already paid for, have a good day!”.

She looks up at the building, a hotel sign hanging by the entrance reads lemmi, like the street. 'What am I supposed to do for 1 hour?' she wonders displeased.

As soon as she gets inside she spots Josie, alone in the reception room.   
“Ah! Look who also got invited, did you get promoted or are you here to show members are still attending?”

“Neither, I'm here for you, you got a delivery” Josie hands her a yellow envelope, and asks her   
“what's inside?” 

“Clearly it's only for me to know - don't you have other errands?”

“Fine... I only wanted to talk some more with you”, without even glancing at her she walks out of   
the building. 

Penelope sits in one of the sofas in the reception, she gets the content out of the envelope, some documents. “No better way to pass time than with a good read” she says under her breath. By the time she gets to the third page, it's already twelve forty. She puts all the pages back in the envelope and gets ready to go to the second floor. As she takes the first steps up the stairs, the woman at the reception calls after her.

“Ma'am, you need to check in!” holding a pen and looking at her expectantly. 

Silence follows. 

“I have a meeting at the 2nd floor” Penelope finally says. 

“With who?”   
“with... -” she doesn't even know how she would call her employers. She ignores the woman and gets to the second floor. The woman doesn't call after her again and goes back to check her computer screen.

“What door is it?” she says to herself. There are three doors on both sides, she opens each one. Calls out to ask if anybody is in there. All rooms are empty, 'these rooms are so small how are we supposed to fit all'. She checks her watch, it's 5 minutes before it starts. She closes her eyes and waits in the hallway. Someone snaps their fingers in front of her.

“Are you here for the meeting? It's about to start”.

She follows Landon, wearing a white shirt and black pants, inside one of the rooms on the left. The   
room has been rearranged, all furniture is gone, only a table and some chairs stand in the middle.

“New budget cuts?” she presses.

“If you followed instructions correctly there would be no need for this”.

“It's not my fault. I used the company's watch and was on time'.

“Then why didn't it work?” 

“Calculations from the department must have been wrong”.

“Are you suggesting someone is trying to sabotage us?”

“Is anyone else coming?' she asks instead.

“No, they are busy organizing the next scheme”

“Then, what are all these chairs for?”

“I didn't want to make the company look cheap at the reception!!”

“Who put you in charge?” she asks with a sigh.

“Well, the attendant is on vacation, so I was requested to take -” 

“Please, let's get to the point of this meeting”.

“Do you have somewhere else to be?” he asks suspicious.

“Put in motion the new plan??” 

“Oh, right!” he looks at his watch “actually we don't have much time left, here it is”.

She listens intently as he explains every step. 

“I don't even think it's possible to mess it up this time, so chop chop, get to work” he concludes, satisfied of himself.

Out of the hotel a cab awaits on the street.  
“They told me to take you wherever you want.”

“4th emp street.”

“Oh! I heard there was a big party yesterday there, where you in attendance?”.

“Just drive, don't talk.” She wonders how come everyone asks her questions.

A butler answers the door and without letting her speak he says “mr. Hannington is not home at the moment, would you like to leave a message?” 

“I forgot something yesterday -” 

“oh, deeply sorry,” he interrupts her “but he told me not to let anyone come in till he is back. If you'd like, I can look for your possession and set it aside for you later”

“It's nothing important. I'll come back later, thank you.”

He closes the door without adding anything else.   
She walks in the alley. She gets down and opens the vent, to retrieve the part of the device that she put there yesterday. Briefly she stops to look at it, feel its weight in her hand. She then climbs the fire escape stairs on the side of the building. She gets to the rooftop, where she picks the lock of the door and slides inside. Carefully, she avoids the cleaning staff and walks down teh stairs to the first floor.  
A voice stoppes her before she reaches the bottom. “Who are you? I've never seen you work for us” says a woman with a hand on her hip and an accusing glare.

“I live here!” Penelope replies pissed. 

The woman looks taken aback and considerably pales at her tone. “My apologies, we weren't told there would be someone at home”

Penelope scoffs “I come and go as I please” she turns around and continues to the first floor, relieved.

She finds the other part of the appliance where she placed it, untouched. She holds it in her hands 'how something so small can carry all this power. Technology really went too far these years, but it did make work easier' she considers. She leaves the house without any other encounter.

Back to the Soth bar, she finds MG sitting at the table near to the kitchen.  
“I got it!” she announces.   
He stands up from his seat abruptly, almost strumbles over his feet as he runs to her, “give it to me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this chapter!


	3. i don't know what to say

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider this an interlude to the next chapter.

A new teams of experts are taking apart the appliance, piece by piece, analysing and checking it, looking for a fallacy; there must have been a glitch for it not to work. They don't have much time, they need to develop a functioning version within the day. Every 4 hours this team alternates with another one, and while they wait for the 4 hours to be up, the team rests in a pod, where their vitals are regenerated, making them suitable for another 4 hours of intense work. This process continues till they find a legitimate solution. It has to be final, they can not use a prototype, meaning not only they have to develop a model but actually test it, improve it, till they are sure there's no risk of failure.

All Penelope has to do now is wait; she cannot stand the wait for the next call. She tosses and turns in bed, trying to find a position where she can relax. The day seems endless. The sun is burning too bright, no place to hide in this room from it. The thought of working out crosses her mind, but it's soon gone. This is a resting day after all. She should just lay back and rest.

A knock at the door brings her out of her thoughts. She stands up and goes to open it. 

“Heard you are free” Josie says with a smile.

“Free to rest, yeah”

“You really wanna spend all day at home? - We could go out, do something together” she leans her head against the frame of the door, and just looks at her.

Penelope evaluates the proposition, and there's only one reasonable answer to it.  
“Just let me change. Wait here.” she says, trying to sound exasperated.

They take the stairs down to the exit of the building. Josie swears she knows where they are going, but it soon becomes apparent to Penelope that they are just walking aimlessly. Josie stops often to show and point to something she likes, be it store fronts or murals; Penelope has lived in the city for many years now, she has seen it all.

They stop at a restaurant for lunch, a place Josie has wanted to try out for a while but never had the time, or the right person to go with. It's clear by the number of clients inside, the food is either really good or really cheap.  
The waitress leads them to a table in the back and leaves them with the menu before she goes and check on some other client. When she comes back she takes their orders: grilled fish with artichokes for Josie and a tomato soup for Penelope.

As they wait, Penelope leans back into her seat and looks around the restaurant. “You should know, those artichokes aren't going to even out your mercury filled dish.”

Josie rolls her eyes “really? - it's practically irrelevant in such amounts.”

“Well, at some point it starts to add up.”

“I didn't think you're the type to have this kind of concerns.”

“Of course I care about anything that goes inside my body. You don't?”

“Guess I have low standards.” she says unbothered. “You know, I've never seen you eat.”

“And?”

“Just surprised, we have known each other for quite some time.”

Penelope continues eating, as Josie hopes her words convey something more than mere pleasantries.


	4. all in

All things come to an end, like summer, and yet the city is blazing in the afternoon heat; granting a slight breeze only in the late hours of the night.  
As the evening is yet to approach, Penelope grows increasingly irritated with the chaos in the city. The streets are filled with people, and she wonders where they are all going. She glances at Josie who is walking by her side, and she doesn't seem annoyed by it at all.

“How are you so laid back?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have yet to see you get bothered by something. How?”

Josie shrugs “Must be because we don't spend that much time together.”

Penelope thinks it over, realizing this is the first time they have hung out outside of work. Work right, she thinks she shouldn't be outside tiring herself since she will know the new course of action only when it's ready. Or maybe that's just a good excuse to hide away from the city noises.  
Penelope, knowing they are back to her apartment area, walks them to her building.

“Wanna come up?” she prompts Josie.

Josie is surprised by the offer, she had picked up on Penelope's mood easily enough as they were walking, and thought Penelope regretted leaving her apartment.

“Sure” she replies, her cheeks reddening.

As soon as they get inside Penelope slumps down on the couch, and lets out a satisfied “finally”.   
Josie closes the door and comes to sit near her, “I've never been here without the expectation of sex” she says as she leans closer, she looks at Penelope for a hint on what's next. 

Penelope looks back at her “Actually, I wanted to talk to you - Josie... whatever this is, it has to stop” she says as she indicates between them.

“It's easy to cling to somebody when you think the world is ending, just not to be alone. Now that we don't know what's happening, I think it's best if we don't see each other … in that way” Penelope continues confident in her words, “I don't want to have to worry about you, it would cloud my judgement” she confesses. 

With every word Josie's expression deepens with hurt.

“It's normal to care about somebody you like” Josie says as she cups Penelope's jaw with her right hand and looks into her eyes, pain evident in her voice. 

Penelope's hand comes up to grip Josie's wrist tenderly “you don't seem to understand” she states while keeping eye contact, “I do not want to care.” and she moves Josie's hand down.

Josie sits back into the couch, confused by the rejection.

“We can skip to discuss other matters then” she says, trying not to show how much Penelope's words sadden her. 

“Uh?”  
Looking anywhere but at Penelope, and feeling slightly embarrassed she says “I want to take a peak in the storage room … read some files …”

“Ah, I see now, your intentions with me weren't so pure after all” Penelope says with a small smirk.

“It's not like that” Josie says offended by the implication, “at all.”

Penelope relaxes “you need someone who has access to storage of course, and to do all the work for you.”

“I won't lie, I'm surprised by this … request” Penelope says looking at her like she's thinking about something thoroughly. “What's in it for me?”

“Isn't getting knowledge of everything that we find enough for you?” Josie questions.

“I'm not interested in all that. - We find? I'll be the one inside risking it all for you” Penelope says dramatically.”

“What do you want?” Josie concedes.

“Let's leave it at you own me a favour” Penelope says and winks at Josie, leaving her to feel unsure.

“I do not grant wishes, I may not be able to fulfill my end.”

“It's non negotiable. Do you want my help or not?”

“Eh, you're the only person I trust enough anyway. - Deal.”

Penelope smiles satisfied. “Now Josie, tell me, why do you want to mess with them? I understand being curious, but this is outright dangerous.”

Josie takes her time to gather her thoughts and the main points to convince Penelope the risk will be worth it, so she starts to list her reasons “how many levels higher than me are you? And you still don't know anything specific, like how does one device end the world? And who is this mr. Hannington?”

Penelope can understand how not knowing some details can come in conflict with someone's morals. And yet she never gave much thought to those questions. “Some of us just take what is given” she shrugs “as long as it keeps you out of trouble does it really matter if we're on the right side? Even if I hadn't taken this job, someone else would have”

“Of course you would say that” Josie frowns. At first unsure if she should disclose this detail, she adds while looking around the apartment, trying to seem casual “and I'm helping someone at Xamin.”

Penelope's eyes practically jump out of her orbits at the words. “Whaaat?! Are you a spy?”

“uuh, no” Josie looks down at her hands fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt “my sister works with them”

“so you want to RISK my life and help out our competitors for your sister? Is she in line for a promotion or something?” Penelope questions, skeptical at the whole ordeal.

“I realized I may not be okay with working to achieve their goals, and this plan is my chance to bring them down.”

Penelope just leans back on the couch and thinks about what this will entail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated :) 
> 
> Do you like the plot? Any thoughts? or prayers?


	5. a small house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To whoever is watching season 2, have fun!

Two days have passed since their talk.

The Archive has been shaken by what is being investigated as an outsider attack: the lab on the second floor of the main building exploded allegedly due to a gas leak, killing the team of scientists that was working there and injuring several other scientists and personnel that where nearby.

Penelope got called to the headquarters as soon as the situation was under control, and was informed she would be sent off on a mission to reclute and build a new team of scientists. HR gave her a list of names and one week to complete it all.

It would be easier if the scientists chose to willingly work for the Archive, but the company has gained notoriety among the scientific community for shady practices.   
There are still private firefighters taking out rubble from the building, when Penelope walks out of the elevator.  
Landon is escorting her out when he stops in the hallway.

“One last thing, you can take a lower partner of your choosing with you. Thanks to this accident, higher-ups are scared to send their agents alone on missions, they expect more attacks in the coming weeks.” he explains.

Penelope is surprised, they have always sent her alone, they must really be worried about someone obstructing operations.

Landon looks up from his tablet “who do you want?”

Without thinking she answers “Josie Saltzman.”

Landon taps something on the tablet, “all set, be safe out there.” he says with evident worry in his voice.

Penelope raises an eyebrow at Landon's concern, “you too.”

Being on a schedule means Penelope is in no time sitting in a black mercedes outside Josie's apartment, left hand on the steering wheel as she waits for her. She watches her get out of the door, a bag over her shoulder, and walk to the car.

“Where we going first?” Josie says smiling as she gets inside. Penelope, as she hasn't been watching her the whole time, tries to only spare her a glance before she starts driving away.

“We have to cover the cities up north, one by one. ” 

“So, it's a road trip.” Josie says as she looks to fasten her seat belt.

“It's barely one hour drive.” Penelope comments.

“Damn, I brought all of these paninis.”

“gosh, Josie, I'll eat one before we go in.”

One hour later they are outside a small house in the woods, isolated from everyone for miles.

Penelope parks near a thick tree, and steps outside, Josie follows suit.

Penelope looking at the house asks “give me one of those panini?”

Josie pleased with her foresight, hands her over one.

Seconds later Penelope is leaning against the open car door, eating; in the meanwhile she observes the house, hopefully they have parked far enough not to alarm the person living inside. But if they are accustomed to silence, they probably are curious to know who are the new visitors.

As Penelope finished eating she turns to Josie, who is instead starting her second panini. “you know, this is not a pic-nic.”

Josie with her mouth full looks apologetic, but she continues eating nonetheless. Once she finishes, she drinks some water. 

“Are you ready?” Penelope smiles confidently at Josie. 

“Wait! What exactly am I supposed to do here? They only told me to tag along”

Penelope stops in her tracks, speechless at first. “Tag along?” she questions. “Stay here by the car.”

Josie nods, “don't worry, I still got your back.”

Penelope thinks she now has to worry about Josie's safety too; hopefully this person lives alone. 

She gets to the front door and knocks twice, “private agent” she says loud enough for them to hear. She already draws her gun. No one comes to open, but she hears shuffling inside. She tries to turn the knob but it's no use, the door is locked. She knows there's no vehicles around they can use to escape, they could only run. She thinks about the possibility of having to avoid traps in the woods.

She huffs, knowing this will need more than a simple conversation.

She takes some steps back on the porch and fires her gun, four, five times and the window's glass on the right shatters. She strains her eyes and tries to look inside.

Josie is facepalming by the car.

Penelope pops the window's lock open with her left hand, she pushes open what is left of the window's frame and steps inside into the broken glass on the floor. She feels it crack under the weight of her feet and hopes it doesn't cut into her shoes.

A man is knelt down on the floor, arms covering his head, shaking, right by the desk on the right of the room. 

Penelope caught off guard by the scene, stops. 

The man looks up “w-what do you want?” he asks, his voice shaking and he is clearly so nervous he has trouble breathing. 

“Are you Alex Devint? - the scientist?”

“I'm an analyst” 

Penelope rolls her eyes. “Fine.” she steps closer and grabs him by the shoulder, “come with me.”

The man without resisting, gets up. Only now Penelope gets a look at his tear stained face: weary small eyes, chapped lips, and a nose that had to be broken before; he clearly was hiding in here.

“How long have you been living here?” 

She gets no reply.  
“Why are you so scared?” she arches her eyebrow.

“You destroyed my window!” he says quietly.

“Fair enough.”

Passing the front door, they walk to the car.

“We should discuss your strategy maybe.” Josie teases.

Penelope gets a cuff from her jacket's pocket and ties the man hands together. 

“Get inside, you both” Penelope orders.

Josie opens the backseat door for him. 

Nobody speaks a word on the drive back.

Penelope wonders for the first time about the ethics of her job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave one (1) comment if you like the story.
> 
> Sorry, I don't have much time to write. I've just graduated and I'm very busy looking for a job.


	6. backseat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Pupils blown and erratic movements, one would think he is having a manic episode. He won't stop spewing nonsense, she cannot even understand what he is saying.

He starts picking up anything he can find on the desk and throws it at her: a stapler, pens, a family picture, even single sheets that don't move past him but just fall back.

Penelope protects her face with her arm and quickly gets to the desk.

In a last hail Mary he pushes the desk, as if it would provide a valid defense.

“Woof, woof, are you one of their dogs?”, he taunts her.

Penelope, clearly pissed off, tries to stalk after him but he keeps moving from one side to the other. 

Fuck, in a blink she takes her gun out and fires it at him.

The bullet barely grazes his arm but he stops and looks at her shocked.

“Swear to god, I'm gonna shoot you and leave you here.”

With nothing left on the table he distracts Penelope by throwing his phone at her. It hits her above her eye. He tries to make a run for the door, but Penelope turns and shoots him in the leg.

He falls to the floor with a sharp cry, one hand coming to press on his injury.

Penelope pushes his head back by his hair, “get up”. 

He stumbles forward and barely manages to walk outside. Penelope follows him closely with her gun still in her hand.

Although he is clearly struggling, she doesn't offer him her help.

Once they are outside, Josie rushes to help the man walk. 

“Did you shoot him?” she asks in a low voice.

“What does it look like?” Penelope retorts.

Penelope opens the backseat and walks to the driver's side.

“I bet the neighbours already called the police, hurry”

As she u -turns the car to get out of the driveway, her sight falls on a woman looking outside her kitchen window, one hand up covering her mouth, shocked. Penelope rolls her eyes and drives away.

“It hurts” the man cries from the backseat.

“Shouldn't we stop the bleeding?” Josie asks worried.

Penelope slams her foot on the accelerator, “I don't play doctor.”

Almost two hours later they arrive at the Archive's building. Penelope parks right outside the entrance, on the sidewalk. She gets out the car, walks to the other side, gets the man out, slams the car door shut. She drags him by the collar of his sweater inside the building towards the elevators. She kicks him down to the floor at the feet of the security man standing there. 

“Get him to the 3rd floor”, she orders.

She gets out of the building, back into the car. She lets out a long breath, “we are going to Eatstrow now.”

Josie just looks at her questioningly, they've just gotten back to the city just to be sent out immediately. The evening is fast approaching, so she wonders where do they need to be this late.

Penelope meets her gaze, “are you hungry?”

\----

They make a short stop at a drive-thru before leaving the city.

Speeding on the deserted highway for what feels like hours, Penelope seems to never get tired of driving, and not even once does she asks Josie to take the wheel.

Josie watches her from her reclined seat, watches her face illuminated by each exit sign they pass.

Penelope keeps her focus on the road as she feels her eyes on her.

When they arrive in a small town, she slows her car down as she looks for a place where they could spend the night.

She parks on the street beside a two-story hotel, from its façade it's clear it hasn't been renovated in years. 

Josie has fallen asleep in her seat. 

Penelope calls her name softly. She tries again, but without success. She reaches out her hand and strokes her hair gently. 

Josie leans into the touch. 

As Penelope moves her hand away, Josie follows the movement till she loses her support on the headrest and wakes up immediately.

The first thing Josie sees is Penelope trying to stifle a laugh.

Josie leans back into her seat confused as she looks out the window.

“Are we staying there?” she asks, referring to the hotel.

“Yep” 

The Archive has gotten word this expert likes to go out in the early morning to collect plants in the nature around. Not to waste time, they will be on her tail first thing in the morning.

They walk inside the reception of the hotel, a man wearing a fading red uniform is sitting at the front desk, when he sees them approach he straightens up. 

“Welcome to Wemil's hotel. Do you have a reservation?”

“We don't. We would like a room for the night” Josie answers with a smile.

The man looks thoughtful at the computer's screen.

“All of our rooms are booked”

Penelope audibly snorts, he really thinks they are that stupid to believe anyone would come to this small town, and nonetheless spend the night in a place that hasn't been lived in for decades.

“But we can offer you a suite” he adds, his face unreadable.

Penelope thinks he is really going all out with the poker face for his scheme.

“Fine, we will take it” she says impatiently.  
\----  
“Looks worse than a motel room” Penelope says as she inspects the bedroom sheets before sitting on them.

She notices different parts of the walls are covered up with concrete, but they didn't bother to repaint over them.

“And the water is cold too” Josie says coming out of the bathroom. She comes to lie down on the bed next to Penelope, she glances up at her, “you've been putting off our plan, why?”

Penelope looks down at her surprised by the sudden question, “a lab has just exploded! I don't think it's the right time to snoop around.” Worried that with the incident the Archive is gonna be suspicious of anyone acting unusual, Penelope thought it was best to delay any move.

Josie knows she is right and has avoided bringing the matter up, but her sister won't stop nagging her about it.

“When things get quieter upstairs, I'll let you know” Penelope assures her.

Penelope takes off her shoes, and she settles under the covers. She turns her back to Josie and wishes her goodnight. 

Josie gets up to turn off the lights, “goodnight” she says back as she pulls the sheets over her body and stares up at the ceiling. She doesn't fall asleep till she hears Penelope's breathing even out, the calming sound coaxing her to sleep.

When Penelope wakes up in the early morning, barely getting five hours of sleep, she is facing Josie. Her eyes fall on her face and she stares as Josie continues to lightly snore. She then turns around and gets up, without doing much noise she picks up her shoes from the floor and she gets out of the room. 

Right outside the door, she puts her shoes on. She decides to wait out in the lobby for Josie. She sits on one of the chairs and takes out her phone to study the map that Landon has prepared on all locations the woman has been spotted at the past days.

Almost an hour later Josie joins her, Penelope chastises her on the time.

“what's the point of coming here the day before, if you're gonna sleep all day”

Josie yawns unbothered “it's barely 10 am, and we drove all night”

“we? You slept through all the drive here”

Josie blushes embarrassed “Well, are we going?” 

Penelope gets up from her seat and leads the way out. They stop at a bar for a quick breakfast, and then they start walking following directions to a clearing in the woods.

There are not many people outside, and it's mostly old people running errands. In a city so small it's not hard to imagine many have left to chase their dreams somewhere else.

Josie checks the map on Penelope's phone from time to time to make sure they are following the exact path the woman usually takes.

The place is silent, only the sound of their steps accompanies them once they reach the woods, now and then some bird chirps, the wind blows through the trees, and it's mostly relaxing.

Suddenly Penelope stops in her tracks, and holds up her arm for Josie to stop too. She indicates to the crouched down woman, who is cutting some plants' stem and putting them in glass containers with some water solution.

“Not many people come to this town for walks”, the woman says as she continues her work.

“We came all this way for you” Penelope says as she approaches her.

The woman turns to look at her, “I was expecting someone. Where do my loyalties lie?”

It's clear to both Penelope and Josie the woman would work for anyone, has she been waiting here and preparing herself all this time for it?

“The Archive has requested your expertises.”

The woman turns away from them and she hums in agreement. She only asks to be able to finish collecting her plants. A request easily granted from Josie.   
On the way back she asks a lot of questions excitedly, that Penelope leaves Josie to answer as she walks ahead of them.

After all they didn't need to spend the night here. Penelope wonders how reliable the company's intel can be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter I'll prob introduce Lizzie.


	7. closed door

Penelope walks into the Archive with only one purpose in mind. After having spent hours thinking over and analyzing her game plan, she is confident she has thought of every single variable on her path to succeed.

She greets the assistant at the desk like every morning; the security guard standing by the elevators checks her keycard as usual and lets her through. Inside the elevator she swipes her keycard on the control panel and hits the sixth floor number.

She gets out of the elevator and walks to the other end of the hallway, without stopping to talk with the personnel around. She opens the door to an office on the right. Inside are two security guards sitting at the desk, one is just checking the surveillance monitors while the other is filling in a report. One of them, a tall bald man, spins around in his office chair, “Agent Park, what can I do for you?”

“I need to check some files in the storage room for one of my mission.”

“Oh, of course. What are you working on?” he says as he gets up from his chair.

“It's classified.” Penelope says nonchalantly.

“That's what all of you agents say, every single time” the man rolls his eyes. “What am I gonna tell my wife tonight?? She always asks me for work stories.”

“You should have got a job in court.”

“Your phone.” he prompts with his hand out.

Penelope takes her phone out her black jacket and hands it over. He turns back to the monitors and connects the phone to a cable. On the screen pops up a folder with all files on the phone and he saves a record of it. He removes the cable and hands the phone back.

“no snooping on my pictures” Penelope says.

The man chuckles. The company's AI will check every data on the phone and flag anything that shouldn't be on it.

Penelope walks to the door on the left that leads to the storage room. From the outside you would think the room couldn't be bigger than a supply closet. There are three rows of shelves that extend through the room, and some small drawers near the corners.

Once inside she turns on the small bluetooth ear bud in her left ear. Josie is listening on the other end from the comfort of her apartment.  
Penelope has been in this room twice, when she needed to cross check information. The space is well-kept, no sign of dust you would except in a storage room.

“What am I looking for exactly?” Penelope asks as she goes through the files in one drawer, at the top of every file is written only a date, “any specific year?”

She opens another drawer and the files are all classified in the same way: month, year.

“Start with the beginning?”

“ Josie,” Penelope says her name softly laughing, “there's too many files, the company goes back to 1944. No way I'm going to check them all.”

“Give me one year.” Penelope smiles as she says it.

She hears Josie huff.

“You should have done more research before sending your best shot out here” Penelope teases but there's no malice in her tone. Josie actually finds it calming.

“1968, the year Edward Gensar, the head of laboratories, was murdered in a hotel room. Send me the months prior to his death.”

Penelope walks to another section of the room where the older files are kept in boxes, she looks over the shelves where they are supposed to be.

“Got it” she mutters as she picks up a box from the middle of the shelf and puts it on the floor. She lifts the lid and she opens each file one by one to take pictures of everything that is inside. She puts the files she already took pics of in a pile on the floor. She doesn't stop to read any of them, that will be Josie's job. Trying to move as quick as possible, the whole process takes her 10 minutes. She is careful to put them back in the same order. She puts the box back once she finishes. As if no one ever touched it in the first place.

She downloads an encrypted text app on her phone and sends all the photos to Josie. Once they are all sent. She deletes the app and all of the pics.

Josie scrolls through the photos, more than twohundredsixty. She zooms on them, reads some lines and then moves on to the next, “Come by later.”

Outside the storage room, the security man plugs Penelope's phone again on the computer for another check.  
\-------  
They spend the next month meeting at the Lotty hotel, a two star establishment, discreet enough to remain undetected by both companies, or so it seems.   
The room at the second floor was barely wide enough for the three of them: a double bed in the center, a small desk in front of it, a closet on the right, and a tv hanging from the wall on the left corner. They always leave the tv on static, the white noise constantly playing. The door on the left led to the bathroom, the flickering light evidence enough of the unkempt conditions of the hotel.

The first time Josie told her to come meet her there, Penelope expected it would be just the two of them. They had been reading the documents for maybe twenty minutes when someone knocked on the door, startling Penelope out of her seat, her hand didn't even reach the gun that Josie was already up and opening the door. Josie's calm reaction was enough to reassure Penelope. Of course, the person standing at the door was non other than her sister, a Xamin agent. Penelope would mistakenly think that Lizzie was the one that set the plan in motion in the first place; but there were a lot of things she would not know until later.

Weirded out by Josie's clear intent to keep conversation short, Penelope follows along and after her questioningly glare to Josie is met with silence on her part, she doesn't ask any questions.

Lizzie's way of acting was oddly awkward. As they resumed checking the documents after a short introduction, Penelope would glance up from the printed copies to trace her features, the hair, and then it was clear, her eyes widened. 

“you are the shooter!”  
\-----------  
Legs about to give out, she could feel the sweat running down her back, she tried to still her breathing, to regain her grip. Tei was right behind her, a look at his face and she knew he was in the same predicament. There was no risk of running out of bullets, but it wasn't certain they would be able to take them out all just the two of them alone.   
As they rested against a column trying to catch their breath, they heard the elevators doors open, if it was any other day the mall's customers would have deterred Xamin's agents. But it was christmas. Probably the only reason Xamin would excuse its agents' use of armed force: their intentions clear in the blatant disregard of the death bodies on the second floor. With Xamin agents cautiously moving around the empty parking lot, there was no point in trying to escape them, they would always catch up.

“There's six of them. The devil knows how many more are on the way.”

“Think they will bring out their whole house for us?”

Tei laughs. 

“Not even then they will get us.”

Turning the parking lot into a blood bath, Penelope and Tei leave everyone on the ground either dead or crying for mercy. As they make it outside into the streets, only a 24/7 store by the corner is open. Penelope is quickly losing blood from the gunshot wound on her side. Tei is bleeding too, a bullet went clean through his arm.

Considering their conditions, they are better off calling the hq to come and collect them. They move to sit down on the curb to wait and rest. 

A single whistle cuts through the night and Tei's body falls back. The hit is so sudden, Tei's face doesn't display any sign of emotion as his body drops on the ground. As she registers what is happening her face contorts in shock, without moving to find cover she looks up for who could have shot, tears falling silently down her cheeks, daring the sniper to kill her too.   
She spots a figure moving on the roof of the parking lot. Only thing she notices are the blonde hair illuminated by the light pole.  
Her vision fades to white and soon she looses consciousness from the blood loss.  
\------------------  
Lizzie takes on a defensive stance “you were lucky to make it out alive, of course Josie had to beg me not to kill her sweet Pen.”

Penelope momentarily spaces out at her words. She turns to look at Josie, hurt that she would ask her to work with someone who killed a friend.

A hotel room, between distrust and loathe, is where it all started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it feels rushed, it's because it is lmaooo
> 
> I started this as an original story and then decided to post it as a fanfic, as I felt it would fit Penelope and Josie. After getting deeper into the original plot I thought I would update a different story here, but it's confusing writing 2 different things.  
In conclusion I'm putting an end to the posie version, and I wrote this chapter to try and bring the story to a certain point that could work as a good end.
> 
> Thanks for reading. I will prob write other fanfics for posie, so see you in the future if you like how I write.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know in the comments what you think! :)


End file.
